You Don’t Need to Find Your Purpose to Live It: A Calmer Way to Meaningful Work and Life
The Myth of “Finding” Purpose
Purpose can look like a big thing we’re supposed to figure out before we’re allowed to live meaningfully. That belief is everywhere. It tells us we must find the thing before we can truly move forward in our life or work.
But here’s the truth. That idea is made up.
Somewhere along the line, someone said, “You need to find your purpose so your life and business can finally work.” And many of us believed it. We started chasing clarity before taking action. We waited for a sign, a certainty, a sentence that explained who we are and what we’re here to do.
And while we waited, we often felt stuck. Exhausted. Paralysed.
The Pressure of Having It All Figured Out
It can be deeply draining to believe that your purpose is a fixed thing you must discover. It sounds so logical, doesn’t it? Find your purpose first, then get moving. But that model is all backwards.
From what I’ve seen, both in my life and in the lives of those I work with, clarity doesn’t come before movement. It arises through it.
Life unfolds in motion. Answers emerge as you go. The idea that you need to pin everything down before you act is just more thinking. It’s your inner critic keeping you waiting until you feel ready, while life is quietly inviting you to take the next step now.
Purpose is Presence
One of the biggest shifts for me has been letting go of purpose as a noun and therefore something to chase or define and seeing it instead as a verb. As presence. As action. As this.
My purpose this morning was to hang out the washing.
It was such a simple thing. But there was no part of me that thought it wasn’t meaningful. I was outside, in the sunshine, hanging out my daughter’s washing. She’s just come home from university. There was care in it, presence in it, and even joy in the way I matched the pegs. A little ritual, maybe even a little silly, but for that short time, completely alive.
That was purpose. Just being with what is.
When Purpose Feels Like Flow
We often talk about flow in the context of creative work or productivity. But I think flow is simply what happens when we stop trying to manage and predict every step and start showing up fully where we are.
Flow is presence without pressure.
And perhaps that’s what purpose has always been, something revealed moment by moment, not decided in advance. You don’t need to know what your purpose is in order to live it. You’re living it now.
What If Purpose Isn’t a Destination?
There is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We know that. Yet somehow, many of us keep acting as if purpose is waiting for us at the end of some imaginary path.
But your purpose isn’t at the end. It is the path. It’s your journey across the rainbow. It’s in the noticing, the trying, the adjusting. It changes as you change. And when we try to hold it too tightly and say, “This is who I am now”, we risk missing the little invitations off to the side that might be leading us somewhere even better.
A Personal Example: The Accidental Path
Looking back, I didn’t plan any of this. Ten years ago, I was a burned-out primary school headteacher. I resigned, not knowing what would come next. Ten days later, a random email invited me to train as a hypnotherapist. That became my first business.
Later, I stumbled across the Three Principles understanding through a Facebook post. Another invitation. Another step. And somehow, all of it has brought me here.
None of it was planned. None of it required me to have it all figured out in advance. I followed what felt real, what was in front of me, what made sense in the moment.
That has always been enough.
You Are Purpose
The idea that purpose is something outside of you is one of the biggest misunderstandings we’ve inherited. You are purpose. You are the energy of life moving through the moment. You are the one hanging out the washing. You are the one showing up, breathing, speaking, creating.
And when we stop waiting to become someone else and just show up as we are, we move. We act. We create.
That is purpose. Moment by moment. Now.
The Role of the Inner Critic
Of course, the inner critic loves the purpose trap. It whispers, “You’re not ready. You haven’t earned it yet. You can’t act until you know for sure.”
But that voice isn’t truth. That voice is fear in disguise. Its job is to keep you safe, not to help you thrive. And when you’re listening to it, you’ll feel it. It feels awful.
The voice of presence, the feeling of aligned action, feels entirely different. It feels grounded, calm, connected. You know when you’re there. You feel good when you’re there.
Now Is the Only Meaningful Time
We don’t need to wait until we’ve earned the right to live meaningfully. Now is meaningful. In fact, now is the only meaningful thing.
Forget the fantasy of past and future for a moment. Can you feel your feet on the floor? Can you breathe more deeply into this present space? Can you allow the simplicity of this moment to be enough?
You don’t need to find your purpose. You’re living it, one small step at a time.
A Quiet Invitation
So, if you’ve been waiting to feel ready before you take action and chasing purpose like a destination, I invite you to pause. Just breathe and trust that what is present right now is enough.
Because you don’t need to find your purpose to live it.
You just need to be here.
Let me know what spoke to you in this piece. I’d love to hear.
Much love
Clare x
